Need to buy a van...Mercedes Vito ?

[Cheib]

Small business that I am a director of needs to buy a panel van of transit type size. The guy that runs the business has got his eye on a Mercedes Vito 111CDI.....are the Mercedes Van's any good or are you better sticking with Ford Transit's or the VW Transporter's ?

Obviously reliability is the most important thing and I suppose quality of support from manufacturer for warranty etc.

Thanks

[DavidHM]

How new? How long are you keeping it? Do Mercedes still rust?

VW Transporters and the Peugeot/Citroën/Fiat and Vivaro/Trafic/Nissan families seem to resist better than Mercedes and Ford.

[redgriff500]

Vitos aren't famed for reliability and parts can be horrific.

Transporter if you have the cash but modern Transits are fine if you aren't worried about image.

[Cheib]

Needs to be long wheel base as will be used for transporting desks and chairs for schools.

He's found a 2011 Vito 111 CDi which has done about 10,000 miles for £14k or so....suspect we could afford a VW Transporter?

Imagine image is more important to the guy driving it than the people we're delivering too.......which is fair enough as he works bloody hard. He basically runs the company....it's a start up.

[mercfunder]

Cheib said:

He's found a 2011 Vito 111 CDi which has done about 10,000 miles for £14k or so....suspect we could afford a VW Transporter?

Including or excluding VAT?


http://vans.autotrader.co.uk/makemodel/make/volksw...

Edited by mercfunder on Tuesday 3rd January 16:08

[bakerstreet]

If you need a LWB, does the Vito make much sense? What about moving up a size to a hightop transit or Sprinter?

Ambulance service rely on the sprinter and thats a good enough advert for me.

VW Transporter is a good van too. Same question about size though?

[Thom987]

Transporter is too small though it is a great van, it is hard to beat a Transit.

[Cheib]

The Van will also be used as his "company car" so I think something smaller in the Vito/Transporter/Transit mould might be better.

When we have larger deliveries that's done on bigger lorries...this is more for smaller deliveries/transporting samples of furniture etc.

[redgriff500]

Check the Vito length carefully.

They include the length under the seats that's about 6" high.

So IIRC the EXTRA LWB Vito is about the same as the LWB Transporter.

But as said you won't get many desks etc in them.

[traffman]

I actually can qualify answering this one as ive ran one from new for the past 2 years racking up no less than 66000 miles.

Apart from the usual small parts . ie bulbs and so on its been rather good.

When it was within warranty a gearbox bearing required replacing .

Apart from that its a fine handler , just needs some more power.

Build quality is pretty rugged , the plastic wings are a tad naff though.

[DatsunDave]

Vitos are a great drive, but can get expensive to maintain. It really depends when you will get rid of it; a low miler makes sense if you are looking to swap out once it reaches 40k/50k odds. Things don't tend to get messy for a good while after that.

Image is important for any business. You don't get much better than the Merc in that respect.

[sprouting]

I'm in an airport business with 2 other gents, we all have Vito travelliners, with between 260,000 and 350,000 miles on, bought between 2005 and 2007, and apart from service items the only extra expense has been the air con rad needing replacement on all 3, they tend to rot over time drawing road muck onto them. Best bet would be to clean the area once a year. The only other item that needs replacing regularly is the front anti-roll bar bushes.

[peaktorque]

I've had three Vitos.

One of the first generation 110CDI (FWD) had it for three years/100,000 miles. Apart from the odd suspension bush, never went wrong.

Two of the second generation (latest RWD version), one was the 4 pot 115 CDI (same engine as the 111 CDI but a bit quicker), had that for 3 years/115,000 miles and a couple of ARB bushes, never failed. The most recent was the V6 120 CDI (204 BHP) f-ing quick! , I did 120,000 miles in that over 3.5 years and it needed a couple of turbo pipes and a new wiper motor (the original seized in the pissing rain )

My time with the Vitos was positive and I wouldn't hesitate to get another if I needed a van again.

A couple of points to remember is that the Vito will fit into more car parks than the two Trannies, the roofline is a lot lower. Rear wheel drive is a plus, but I always found the suspension a bit soft.

[cts1975]

I bought a brand new merc vito traveliner in july 2004. I hade every service done by mercedes. I sold it to taxi driver 18 months ago with 261,000 miles on it.
It never broke down. It had a new battery under warranty they also replaced the steering under warranty with 245,000 miles on the clock without me even reporting a problem.
If i could afford to use mercedes for all of our vehicles I would without hesitating.
Don't get a white one as they loose more money in depreciation, and mak sure he gets one with 'leatherette' seats.

[Cheib]

Thanks for all the replies Gents...have sent him off to have a look at the VW Transporter too so we can make a good comparison. Sounds like we will be getting a Vito though...sounds like they are pretty reliable from what people have posted on here and I do agree that image does help. I'm also a believer that making someone feel valued by buying a slightly better van for them to drive is no bad thing.

Sadly white is the company colour so we'll be having a white van!